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You can make a reliable and relatively inexpensive fence for the site using a combined fence – the pillars are made of brick, and the filling (spans) and any light material – wood, profiled sheet, forged fences. The view turns out to be solid, and the costs are much less than for a “pure” brick fence. Moreover, laying pillars is not the most difficult thing, but profitable. Masters two years ago asked from 2000 rubles per pole, and today prices have more than doubled. You can fold brick columns for a fence with your own hands without the skills of a bricklayer. It is important to follow the technology and everything will work out.
Fence foundation with brick pillars
The choice of the type of foundation for brick pillars depends on what material the filling will be from and also on the type of soil. If the span of the fence will be made of light material (corrugated board, wood), you can make a pile foundation for each pillar. The depth to which the pile must be driven / twisted depends on the type of soil and the height of the groundwater. If soils are prone to winter heaving (clay or loam) with high groundwater, it is necessary to dig in 15-20 cm below the freezing depth of the soil. On well-drained soils (sands and sandy loams), it is enough to dig in 80 cm.
A pile foundation for a brick pillar is made according to standard technology:
- drill a hole of the required depth (diameter 25-35 cm);
- a bucket or two gravel is poured to the bottom;
- compact;
- they put a pipe around which they will later lay the pillar (on heaving soils, several pieces of metal bars, tapes, corners are often welded to the buried part for greater stability);
- the pipe is set strictly vertically, fixed;
- for heaving soils, if metal pieces are not welded to the pipe, you can stick several reinforcing bars into the hole; for very difficult soils, you can tie a frame;
- high-grade concrete is poured – M300 or higher (read about grades and composition here).
The length of the pipes consists of two quantities: from the part that is walled up in concrete and the part that will stick out from above. Moreover, the upper section of the pipe is not at all necessary in this case should be up to the very top of the column. It can be 40-50 cm shorter. An exception is the poles on which the gate and / or gate will be hung. Here the internal reinforcement should be almost to the very top.
If the fence is planned to be completely brick or there are large wind loads in the region, most likely you will need to make a full-fledged strip foundation. Another option is piles connected with a shallow tape.
Read more about the types of foundations for various types of fences in the article “Foundation for a fence: how not to bury extra money”.
Mortar and brick for posts
The mortar is made cement-sand with a ratio of 1:5 (or 1:6). Sand is better to take a fine fraction, high-grade cement – not lower than M400. For plasticity, you can add a little liquid hand soap or dish detergent (20-30 gr. For a standard batch – 1 bucket).
It is important when preparing the solution to obtain the desired fluidity. It should not be dry, but it is also inconvenient to work with liquid, because water is added gradually, monitoring the consistency of the solution. The desired state can be controlled as follows: spread a certain amount of solution on some surface, put a cross on it with a trowel. Then take the marked area on the trowel and watch the cross: it should not “float”.
If desired, you can get a black solution: add soot to it. It is sold in bags in hardware stores. Add a small amount of soot and get decorative seams without painting.
Any brick is used for poles, just pay attention to the number of defrosting-freezing cycles (the more, the better) and to the geometry. Ideally, deviations in size should not be more than a couple of millimeters. Then it will be easy for you to work. If the batch is of different sizes, carefully sort by size so that the bricks in one column have a minimum discrepancy.
Masonry fence posts: technology
In most cases, fence posts are made of 1,5 or 2 bricks, section 380 * 380 mm and 510 * 510 mm, respectively, height – up to 3 meters.
The masonry is carried out with dressing (displacement) – the seam of the bottom row is blocked by the “body” of the brick lying on top. The seam is standard – 8-10 mm. The scheme of laying columns in one and a half and two bricks in the photo below.
Pillar laying: work order
Cut-off waterproofing is spread on the finished foundation. It can be roofing material in two layers, but waterproofing on bituminous mastic is better. This layer is necessary so that the brick does not “pull” moisture from the ground. If wet brick freezes, it quickly begins to crack and crumble. Therefore, waterproofing is necessary. Rolled waterproofing can be replaced – coat the foundation twice with bituminous mastic, and in areas with high humidity it is better to make double waterproofing – coat with mastic, and then lay Hydroisol as well.
According to the size of the column, a solution is applied to the waterproofing with a layer of a little more than 1 cm. Bricks are laid on it, according to the scheme. They are aligned in the vertical and horizontal planes by tapping with a special rubber hammer. Craftsmen can use the handle of the trowel, but, in this case, the remains of the mortar can fly off the plane of the trowel, dirtying their hands and brick, and it is poorly rubbed off the cement.
Ceramic brick absorbs moisture very quickly, so if you hesitate a little, it will be difficult for you to “put” it in place. In order for the mortar to retain plasticity longer, the brick is dipped in water for a few seconds before laying. The same maneuver makes it easier to wipe the solution from the surface (it is removed immediately with a dry cloth).
The second row is also laid: a mortar is spread on the bricks, bricks are placed on it, but already with dressing – unfolded so that the seam is blocked. Align again. Then they take a tape measure and check the dimensions of the stacked rows. Even a small displacement of 1-2 mm is eliminated. They tap on the end of the brick (called a “poke”), moving the bricks closer. Then, if the side faces were not smeared, the vertical seams are filled. All subsequent rows are placed in the same way.
If there is a void between the inner reinforcement pipe and the brickwork, it is filled. If the distance is small, you can use a masonry mortar, if the void is significant, to save space, you can fill it with rubble, tamp, then spill it with a liquid cement-sand mortar.
Masonry under the bar
The masonry of the pillars described above has long been tested, but for beginners, when making it on their own, it is difficult to maintain an even seam. Another problem is that the solution crawls out of the seam, staining the surface. It doesn’t turn out very pretty. To facilitate the work, they came up with a masonry under the bar. They take a square metal bar with a side of 8-10 mm, cut it into pieces, 10-15 cm longer than the dimensions of the column.
Having laid the first row, a bar is laid out on it along the edge of the brick. The site is filled with a solution with a small margin, and the layer is made larger closer to the pipe. Then, leading the trowel along the bar, remove the excess, cleaning the bar from the solution. But at the same time, the slope of the solution is preserved. They put a brick, align it in level. At the same time, the bar does not allow it to settle much, and the position of the other end is controlled by the level.
Then they take a short piece of a bar about 10 cm (for a vertical seam), put it along the poke, apply the mortar on the side of the laid brick with a trowel, also removing the excess along the bar. The second brick is put and leveled. After the level is set, the seam is pressed from above with a trowel, and the vertical bar is removed.
So all the bricks in a row are laid out. Then the bars are removed, proceed to the next row. This technology of laying brick pillars allows you to control the seams and make them neat. So even a novice amateur bricklayer can fold a pole with his own hands. It is important only in the process to control the parameters of each row (so that the column in the section is of the same size).
Video lessons
A more complex version of a brick pillar – screwed
Features of working with ceramic bricks
Possible problems and solutions
The main problems that can arise when laying poles with your own hands are resizing and “twisting”. Both defects arise from insufficient control.
When laying pillars with your own hands, often the upper rows become much wider than the lower ones. This happens gradually, a millimeter or even less is added, but in almost every row. As a result, at a height of 2 m, the column width is 400 mm and even more. This is instead of 380 mm instead. The fix for this bug is to control the size of each row.
It is not enough to control the dimensions of the column only with the building level. A household tool (yellow) is mainly used, and it has a rather large error. And if the level has a length of 60-80 cm, you simply will not see slight vertical deviations. Therefore, they additionally use a tape measure – measuring each row. To reduce the time it takes to control, you can make a template according to the size of the post (for example, from even strips) with which to check for deviations.
Self-laying pillars without experience in such work can lead to another mistake: the edges of the pillar can move, while the pillar seems to twist around its axis. This shortcoming is much more unpleasant: try attaching spans to such pillars. There will be many problems. Therefore, when laying each row, it is necessary to strictly ensure that the corners are located strictly one above the other.
To facilitate the task, you can use two corners screwed to opposite corners. They are temporarily attached to the lower rows (with bolts or self-tapping screws in the seam) and then used as a guideline, placing the bricks strictly in the corner.
Embedded elements and fastening of the gate
When laying brick pillars, you need to think about how you will attach the span to them. In order to be able to fix the horizontal guides for filling the fence, mortgages are pre-welded to the pipes located in the middle of the column. These can be corners, studs, “ears” for attaching wooden planks, etc. They are welded at the same height so that the attached crossbars are strictly horizontal.
Mortgage options may vary. Someone makes from a corner, someone has enough hairpins. It all depends on the type of filling of the fence (from which the spans will be made) or the mass of the gate leaf.
Under gates or gates, at least three metal parts with a metal thickness of at least 3 mm (preferably 4 mm or even more) are required.
The device and installation of sliding gates with your own hands are described here. Learn how to automate swing gates here.
We make a cap on a brick pillar
To protect the brick from moisture, the top of the pillar is covered with a cap. They are sold in large quantities, there are metal, concrete or composite. If desired, a cap on a roofing iron pole can be made with your own hands. Below is a diagram. You just have to substitute the dimensions, and then bend to the bending machine along the marked lines. The product is fastened with special rivets, but self-tapping screws can also be used. Only it will be necessary to pre-drill the holes, coat them with anti-rust, then paint.